Palatal Geometry as a Forensic Evidence for Sex Estimation

Abstract

Aim: Sex estimation from the palatal width and length dimensions for biometric analysis of forensic cases. Materials and methods: For this research the width and length dimensions of 241 maxillary dental casts of 133 female and 108 male subjects with average age 22.57 weresimultaneously measuredusing vernier and sliding callipers, under the authorization of the ethical committee of the Rectorate of Kutahya Health Sciences University. The data were statistically analysed due to sex by IBM SPSS version 25.0 statistical software using; descriptive, regression, discriminant analyses and student t-test. Results: In this research the correct classification rates between groups showed that 77.4% of females (103) and 79.6% of males (86) were correctly classified by Fisher's Linear Discriminant Functions (LDF). Totally 78.4% of cases were correctly classified due to sex. Conclusion: Sexual dimorphism is possible from the palatal measurements of human remains. The width of the horizontal line connecting the distal contact points of second premolars and the length of the vertical line drawn from this horizontal line to the mesial contact points of central incisors were significant indicators